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Monday, February 8, 2010

From Chicago, the city that never shuts down even when they're expecting a foot of snow, it's Monday Sunday Sound Out starring your host, the woman who ate Vegemite and lived to tell the tale, Dawn Meehan!

Did you know, there is someone in the middle of the ocean viewing your blog right now? Do you have a line to Atlantis? [map at the bottom of my blog that shows where in the world my visitors are coming from at any given moment]Nope, that was just me. I finally lost it and took off for Bora Bora. I was just checking my blog from there.

I'm still stuck on the breastmilk and pinkeye thing. How exactly does a conversation like that go? Dawn, suggestions?

"Are you still breastfeeding your daughter?""Yep!""Oh good! Hey, could I borrow a teaspoon or so of breastmilk?""Uhhh...""You know, so I can, ah, put it, you know, in my eye."

This is the point where your friend takes her baby and her boobs, and makes a hasty retreat.

Oh and last year the makers of Vegemite had a competition to name their new product - Vegemite mixed with cream cheese (gross thought I know). Yes, Vegemite with cream cheese is gross unlike the plain Vegemite which is the most disgusting thing I've ever tasted just delightful.

If you could work out a way that us Aussies could mention Chicko Rolls, the whole Vegemite-disgust thing will seems tame...OK, I looked these up and somehow they seem more normal than the Vegemite. An eggroll filled with vegetables and mutton doesn't seem too strange. (I'd replace the mutton with chicken or rename them Mutton Rolls, personally.) The sleezy girl on the motorcycle in the advertising is worse than the thought of a mutton roll, however.

At what age did your kids stop taking naps?I don't think they ever took naps. Honestly, the boys all stopped right around the time they turned 2. My girls went a little longer. Brooklyn's almost 4 and hasn't napped for over a year, but still, if we go somewhere in the car in the late afternoon, she'll fall asleep. Of course, she'll wake up and stay awake until 3:00am then. It's a trade-off.

Was the girl driving a silver or goldish car? I've had 3 accidents in the last 28 years of driving. All the same scenario as yours and all with silver/goldish cars. I must not be able to see them.Yes, it was, as a matter of fact! And I drove along the same route today for the first time since the accident and noticed there are a bunch of bushes that totally block your view! I didn't notice that they obscured the road so much until today. Ugh.

I would love to know your routine. With 6 kids I bet its hectic. I only have 4 so its crazy busy here. Oh, and what kind of coffee do you brew at home. From one coffee lover to another. :)I get up at the last possible minute, drive the oldest kids to school in my pajamas, come home, get the other four ready, take all but Brooklyn to school, come home, put Little Bear on for Brooklyn every single day without fail even though she's seen it a kazillion times, do laundry, play dress-up with Brooklyn, clean, play Barbie, pay bills, go through email, fight with Brooklyn to put on her coat so we can pick up Clay from school, come home and make lunch, empty dishwasher, tell Clay and Brooklyn to put the cushions back on the couch, run errands or work, more laundry, phone calls, pick up the kids from school, help with homework, watch Lexi's fashion show, make dinner, yell at the kids to help clean up the amazing messes they've made in the short time they've been home, drive someone to a friend's house/confirmation/the store/practice of some sort, listen to Jackson whine because I won't let him play video games because he was horrible and beligerant the night before, bathe the little ones, unclog a toilet, read to the littles/make the older ones read, put them to bed, work, put them to bed again, work some more, make a plate of nachos, put them to bed yet again, pour some wine, keep working until I can't keep my eyes open any longer (usually 2ish), go to bed and start all over again in 5 hours. Oh, and these days, I'm powered by Dunkin' Donuts coconut coffee some days, and others, it's Green Mountain Island Coconut, Mountain Blueberry, or Golden French Toast.

Good on you for trying it [Vegemite] though. Do the kids like it? Are they game to try it? Could be a good dare (or punishment?) to do. ;-)Oh, I love it (your idea, not the Vegemite)! I never considered using it as a punishment. It's like EXTREME castor oil! "Stop fighting now, or you're both getting spoonfuls of Vegemite!"

Would you prefer some Tim Tams instead??Even if Tim Tams were dirt-covered worms wrapped in a tortilla, I think I'd prefer them.

so what IS vegemite?????? can you post the ingredients list??SaltEvilBrown Goo

Tim Tams however are different, how can you go wrong with chocolate biscuits with whipped chocolate in th emiddle? And yes, you do have to bite both ends off and suck your coffee though them... it's the law.Is that kinda like breaking apart an Oreo, scraping the cream out with your teeth, putting the halves together and dunking them in milk?

Ok.. an Aussie here.. and well Vegemite is unreal!I love it, I eat daily! Though yes its an acquired taste im told. A bit like eating Peanut Butter Cups.. I just dont get that.. they are not nice for me!! :::THUD::: Peanut buter cups are not nice?!?!?! What manner of nonsense is this? Peanut butter - good! Chocolate - good! "You got peanut butter in my chocolate! You got chocolate in my peanut butter!" Two great tastes that taste great together!

It looks to me that you have put way too much on that toast.

Seriously?!?!?! It's too thick because you can SEE it?

Any idea when your new book will be available? I have 3 kids and I would love to get it for a first time pregnant friend! (in a "haha it's too late to turn back now" way) lol Hee hee hee! Yeah, I think it turned my first editor off having kids forever. Oops. It'll be out this fall. :)

you mention that you havent tried Nutella yet, you can spread that on real thick. Nope, I used to buy Nutella all the time. The kids love it. I think I stopped buying it back when I was following the all-natural diet for Jackson because it has artificial vanilla. I'm surprised Lexi & Brooklyn haven't asked me to get it in a long time.

I found it funny to see that Kraft makes it [Vegemite]. I've never seen it mentioned in my Food and Family magazine! ;o) I know, right?! That was definitely not one of the products I got to sample when I visited the Kraft kitchens last year!

Were you bummed after the party and clean up because your babies are growing up????They are not! Who told you that? My babies are still my babies, darn it! The fact that I just bought my oldest "baby", a pair of size 12 shoes means nothing. Nothing, I tell you!

I'm from the Philadelphia area, so next I guess I'll need to send you some scrapple! Also an acquired taste, from what I hear. I love it though!Scrapple? I've never heard of it, but I'm a little hesitant to try anything that has the word "crap" in it. I could go for a nice cheesesteak though. The best cheesesteak sandwich I ever had was one I ordered from room service at the Four Seasons hotel in Philly. Mmmmm

And for my Australian readers, I may not like your breakfast spread of choice, but you've got the coolest accents ever and I'd love, love, love to visit your country! Those of you who've been reading my blog for a long time, remember the project that Austin did a couple years ago where I asked readers to send me information from their state or country? I saved all those awesome letters and all the information you guys took the time to send us. All this talk about different foods from different countries is making me want to pull those out and go through them again! Maybe I'll send Austin up the attic to pull them out tomorrow. :)

Here's a link to the podcast of my interview with Margaret McSweeney on Kitchen Chat (the interview dated 1/30/10). And also check out the interview with Rebecca Darr and Rita Canning from Wings (dated 2/5/10). Click HERE.

Wings (Women in Need Growing Stronger) is an organization that provides shelter and services for women fleeing domestic violence. WINGS gets 300 calls from women every month and they unfortunately don't have the funds to help every one.

This year is WINGS 25th anniversary and they have many exciting things planned. The first thing they are doing is giving away a dream home or one million dollars to a lucky winner in the Chicago Dream Home Raffle. Can you imagine winning a million dollar dream house? How awesome would that be?! And there are over 100 other prizes too, including cars, a Harley Davidson motorcycle, jewelry and dream vacations! You can buy your raffle tickets HERE. And when you buy a ticket, you're not only entered in the drawing, but you're helping WINGS. (Not to mention a little tax write-off) It's a win-win!

I told you, didn't I? Native Australians are always on about how thinly you have to spread Vegemite, and if you don't like the foul brown muck, it's because you spread it too thickly. It can't POSSIBLY be that Vegemite is, in fact, foul brown muck.

Optimal thickness, two to five molecules. I'm sure of that.

Oh, and I've had more than one native Australian make Vegemite on toast for me "properly". I still think it's foul. (Though one of my Aussie-born kids likes it and makes Vegemite on toast for herself as a snack. She certainly didn't taste it in the womb, because I won't eat the stuff, and I certainly wouldn't have done so while pregnant and therefore easily nauseated. Maybe it just some sort of cultural osmosis. Who knows.)

I love reading your blog anytime, but I really love reading your Sound Outs! I get to see some of the great stuff I may have missed, along with your personal take. Your always effervescent sense of humor comes through no matter where your head is, on any particular day. That's a tough thing to do with six kids (or any number of kids) and I am in awe!

You have a wonderful gift and so many of us are lucky to be at the receiving end of it!

Don't eat Scrapple. The word CRAP is in if for a reason! I had always wanted to try it and when I was in PA I did. I was such a child when I spit it out of my mouth and trying to wipe the nasty taste off of my tounge with my shirt sleeve!

Like vegamite, I guess scrapple is an acquired taste too. I've lived most of my life in PA, where scrapple is a staple in some homes, and I can't even deal with the smell of it, much less taste it. Ask someone about souse sometime...

My boyfriend glanced at my screen while I was reading your post and he said the same thing about the Vegemite. You put way too much on it. You're supposed to barely scrape your knife across the bread so that it's a really thin layer. I don't imagine you'll be trying it again considering how disgusted you are by it, lol, but for other readers who might take the dare, just make sure you don't put too much or it's awful!